Wow...i was feeling a bit guilty that I did not renew bmw assist. I thought i was the only doing so.

 

I didn't renew mine. Never used the function anyway and I carry a cel phone all the time. Onstar is a better system that I would subscribe to if available.

 

How is Onstar better?

 

For one thing, On Star can open your car if you happen to lock the keys in it. Not sure if anyone has ever done this with an E60, can't imagine but you never know.

 

I renewed BMW assist mainly for the crash notification. Assist is supposed to notify the authorities if the car is in a crash where the air bags deploy. But that's the only reason. I've never used it for anything.

As for the service notification, that has never worked in my car. The car says the notification was sent but the dealer never gets it. Last time I was in for service we tried again while I watched. Nothing showed up on the dealer computer. Checked again th enext morning, still nothing. No one knows why. So now I wonder if the crash notification would work if needed.

 

I'd like to see BMW implement the car health checklist on Owners Circle like GM does with Onstar. It takes the diagnostic report (or the presence/lack of any diagnostic messages) and creates a nice little health report you can view at a website. That would be simple to do - they probably have all the data already.